Page 19 of Sinful Promises

When he smiled at me, I had a crazy feeling he knew how I felt. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. All I wanted him to do was kiss me. No, I wanted it all. I wanted us to spend the night. I wanted us to be together. Forever.

But most of all, I wanted an absolute sign that he felt the same way. I waited, my heart pounding in my ears. When he withdrew his hand from my cheek and cleared his throat, I wanted to crawl into a ball and cry my eyes out.

We said goodnight, and his shoes echoing off the stone-lined walls as he walked away was the loneliest sound ever. Yet again, I was all alone.

I took a long shower, and as the hot needles of water stabbed at my flesh, my stupid mind wandered to my mother.

Will I get to see her while she is still alive?

Or is she destined to die alone?

It was the one thing Mother had hated the most . . . being alone. Maybe this was karma dealing out a cruel hand, making her suffer.

Mother always wanted company. Any company would do. Especially if it was in the form of a man . . . a man willing to show her affection. She hadn’t wanted my company though. Nor that of the man who’d pretended to be my father, Rob.

An unprecedented thought blazed an untrodden path through my brain. Why did Rob hang around? If he wasn’t my father, and had known that all along, why had he stayed? They’d fought a lot, often hating the sight of each other. And they’d never showed any affection. Sometimes Rob had gone away for days on end. But up until my fourteenth birthday, he’d always come back.

Why?

As I was toweling off after the shower, the answer hit me like a wrecking ball.

Mother had something over him.

And whatever it was, it had to be something huge.

Chapter Five

After Thorsteinn Castle, we revisited the Black Forest. Roman and I did the zip-lining again, which was just as much fun as last time, but without the drama of Lydia. On day fourteen of our tour, we got up nice and early for our seven-hour drive to Berlin. Roman seemed to have snapped out of his brooding and everything was back to normal.

Except for my bloody ticking clock.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

We arrived in Berlin just after lunchtime, and I shifted straight into walking the streets of Berlin, showing all the major attractions to my group; the site where Hitler committed suicide, which was now a parking lot; a dozen important buildings that either survived the war or were rebuilt after it; and Checkpoint Charlie, which in my opinion was about as cheesy as a fondue.

My group had an hour to roam around the 2,711 slabs of concrete at the Holocaust Memorial, which was a powerful yet simple tribute to the Jews who died as a result of Hitler’s war. Finally, we headed to the Berlin Wall, and that was where I left them. They were free to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the evening.

I, however, was going to tick off something new.

On account of the Berlin tour being a walking one, I hadn’t seen Roman since he drove off to park the bus. And I didn’t really want to see him either. Not with what I had planned for the evening.

Tonight, I was going to do one of Zali’s out of my comfort zone choices. It wasn’t just out of my comfort zone; it was off the planet. But it was something that was unique to Europe.

So, it was now or probably never.

Back at the hotel, I successfully managed to avoid Roman as I quickly showered and headed out again.

The sun was hidden behind the clouds, casting an eerie gray glow over the city streets. And it was unseasonably cold—at least five degrees below expected. My breath misted with each exhale, and I kept my hands well and truly embedded in my coat pockets.

Berlin had seen its share of misery over the decades, but it’d bounced back. Street art was everywhere, as were bars, clubs, and restaurants that were thriving. Boutique brew houses were on almost every corner. Berliners were an eclectic mix of young people stamping their claim to individuality, and middle-aged couples who made bold choices with their appearances. It was fun to be out, and everywhere I looked there was something interesting to see.

By the time I reached my destination, my heart was thumping. Not from the forty-minute walk to get there. Nope, fortunately Berlin was very flat. It was because of what I was about to do.

Walking through the grand entrance was like stepping into an oasis in the Far East. A long, covered walkway lined with bamboo hedges, carved pillars, and lush vegetation, led me to the spa that Zali had said I ‘absolutely had to go to’.

But this was no ordinary day spa. This was over two hundred thousand square feet of relaxation bliss. The thing was, Vabali was a no-textile experience.

I was officially heading into a nudist society.

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